Tag: basketball

MATT TURNER DESERVED MORE SUPPORT

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By Brad Durham

         Matt Turner deserved the opportunity to coach the Warren County High School football team for the next two years. He has dedicated himself to football since he was a student at Warren County Middle School. One coach out of 10 coaches in the past 34 years has led the football team to a winning season at Warren County High School. That coach is Matt Turner.

         During the past 34 seasons, the high school Pioneer football team recorded nine 0-10 regular seasons. The head coaches of those teams were Franklin Fisher, Sid Fritts, Glen Campbell, Heath Woods, Gerald Tidwell, Chris Madewell, Tommy Johnson and Matt Turner. Every head football coach at Warren County who coached for two or more seasons experienced an 0-10 season except Tom Moore.

         It is worth repeating. Only one out of the past 10 coaches in 34 Pioneer football seasons has had a winning season. Matt Turner led the Pioneers to an 8-3 season. Matt Turner has won only three games in the four seasons after his team broke the losing streak. Turner is not the only head coach who has struggled to win football games in Warren County.

         There have been only 11 winning football seasons in the 56-year history of Warren County High School. 80% of Warren County’s high school football seasons have been losing seasons. Losing is the norm, not the exception. 

         Why does each administration keep hiring coaches without providing proper support and leadership for the program? Anyone who becomes superintendent or principal of the high school has to know the history of the football program.

         I have had been able to witness the football program up close for the past 34 years, and in my opinion, there has been a lack of institutional support for the football program since Sid Fritts was the head coach. Everyone involved in the football program and administration since 1994 may disagree with me. From my perspective, the foundation has been cracked and the administration has failed to repair it.

         It takes more than a head coach to support a high school football program. Until the Warren County Schools’ administration can give the proper level of support to the football program, it is not reasonable to expect any different outcomes.

         Warren County keeps putting football coaches into a program that has a 34-year history of losing. The only coach who led his team to a winning season was Matt Turner. Principal Chris Hobbs thinks he has the ability to reboot the football program. I hope the people of Warren County have enough of an interest in the football program to actually hold Chris Hobbs responsible for the reboot. 

         Dr. Grant Swallows stated that he “feels the need to start fresh with a new person in the lead.” It is interesting that Swallows hired a communications director this summer, and he chose to release this statement through that person. Is that how Warren County Schools operates now? Is that the best use of public-school funds in a small town?

         I asked Grant Swallows for an interview recently to discuss the status of Matt Turner’s position and the football program in general. I was given the school’s statement in an email. As a citizen in a small town, I find the lack of direct communication to the public regarding the release of a football coach surprising.

         It is my hope that the Warren County public will demand more answers about why Matt Turner was not retained as head coach. And furthermore, what are the plans to repair the foundation of the high school football program? What makes this administration confident that they can reboot the program and start fresh with a better coach than Matt Turner?

         It would be a mistake to say that this administration alone is responsible for the losing status of the high school football program. However, it would be accurate to state that the present administration bears some responsibility. Leadership starts at the top, and the present administration has not provided the leadership necessary to repair the cracked foundation of Warren County football.

         For anyone paying attention, this is the same administration that hired Mendy Stotts to coach the girls basketball team. This is the same administration that intentionally ended Sable Winfree’s high school basketball career. 

         During the past 25 years, I have worked with hundreds of high school coaches from one end of the state to the other. I have observed a lot of strange decisions that many people in both small and large towns thought would never happen. Witnessing the end of Sable Winfree’s high school basketball career and Matt Turner’s tenure as the head football coach at Warren County High School are as strange as it gets.

         To quote the late great Bishop Desmond Tutu, “when do we stop pulling people out of the river and go upstream and find out why they’re falling in?“

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE WARREN COUNTY SCHOOLS:

Warren County High School Announces Head Coaching Change

McMinnville, Tenn., November 15, 2024 – Warren County High School has announced a change in direction for the leadership of the Pioneer football program. Matt Turner served as the head coach beginning in 2019 and for the last six seasons. His tenure included highlights such as the Pioneers’ first winning season in recent years while simultaneously yielding Warren County’s first-ever Mr. Football in CJ Taylor.

WCHS Executive Principal Chris Hobbs commended Turner for the impact he made on the football program. “I want to personally thank Coach Turner for his dedication, integrity, and the countless hours he has devoted to our school and our students. No one has ever doubted any of those things. In our meetings to evaluate the state of Pioneer football, we felt we needed a ‘reboot’ and thus this decision became necessary,” he said.

Since the end of the 2024 season, Warren County High School has been formulating a plan for the future of the football team, including taking steps to play a more competitive, non-region schedule in 2025 and 2026.

“I want to thank Coach Matt Turner for his time as the head coach of our football program. He has been invaluable for many years and is a Pioneer to his core. His commitment and the investment into the lives of our student-athletes is second to none,” said Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, Warren County Schools. “With that said, Warren County High School is in the midst of a new course for the program and feels the need to start fresh with a new person in the lead. That decision should not diminish the fact that Matt Turner is an outstanding leader of young men and that he has done tremendous work over the last 6 seasons. The search for a new coach will begin immediately and will take place over the next few weeks,” he added.

The Collective Failure to Help Sable Winfree

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By Brad Durham

SABLE WINFREE, NO. 10

       The sad truth is that if people in administrative positions at Warren County High School and the central office had performed their jobs properly, Sable Winfree would still be on the WCHS Lady Pioneer basketball team. The purpose of educational athletics (high school sports) is to use teamwork that contributes to a common goal. Ideally, coaches use sports to transform lives. 

       Joe Ehermann is an author and former professional football player. He has been a high school coach, and has spoken about the power of being a positive coach versus a negative, transactional coach who only focuses on his/her own agenda. The TSSAA worked with Ehrmann in conjunction with a grant from the NFL for approximately three years. His book, InSideOut COACHING has been used to inspire coaches. Ehermann described a coach in the book:

       An InSideOut coach resists the transactional impulse and asserts that the right way, indeed the only way, to coach young people is to seek to transform their sense of their own worth, talents and value.

       What could have been an educational and transformative experience for Sable Winfree became an unnecessary tragedy.

Cannot Write Everything That I Have Heard

There are many things that I have learned about Mendy Stotts and certain members of the administration that I have not reported in this newsletter. Some people do not want to go on the record because they do not want to deal with the complexities of being confrontational. Some people are afraid of retaliation by the head coach and members of the administration. Consequently, I cannot write everything I believe to be true involving the dismissal of Sable Winfree from the Warren County High School Lady Pioneer basketball team.

The First Administrative Mistake

       Based on what I have been told and learned, the first mistake was not properly vetting Mendy Stotts before she was hired. The hiring process at the high school involves the head principal, Chris Hobbs making a recommendation to Dr. Grant Swallows, who actually makes the hire. Todd Willmore was the athletic director when Stotts was hired. 

       Two factors make me wonder why Mendy Stotts was hired. One is a rumor that keeps swirling around McMinnville that Stotts exhibited some strange behavior after being dismissed from Anthony Lippe’s staff in 2019. The other factor is the number of parents who have complained about how Stotts treated their daughters at the middle school. The present administration has to know that several of those complaints have been echoed by parents at the high school. 

       I have heard from a parent who took a daughter out of the Warren County School system after Stotts was named head coach at WCHS. I believe there are other parents who made changes after Stotts was named head coach. Several high school parents met with Stotts before the season started to express concerns about her behavior toward their daughters. Several parents have also met with WCHS administrators to express their concerns during the season.

       As recently as last Monday, December 4, a principal went into the Lady Pioneers’ locker room after the loss to York. Allegedly, Stotts was screaming at players in the locker room. Stotts was not present afterwards for an interview that Jay Walker conducts on the radio. 

       Apparently, Mendy Stotts was not the first choice to become the new WCHS Lady Pioneer head coach this past spring. If that is true, maybe the administration believed that they had no other choice but to hire Stotts. How has that worked out for the Lady Pioneers?

Another Administrative Mistake

       A clear sign of the administration’s attempt to bury and whitewash the dismissal of Sable Winfree from the team is the investigation of a formal complaint. Soon after Sable Winfree’s dismissal, her mother filed a complaint against Mendy Stotts with the new Human Resource Director for Warren County, Todd Willmore. Conducting a professional investigation for a novice HR Director must be challenging. The report, whether by design or from a lack of training and experience, is not credible. 

       For example, Mr. Willmore reported, “We were unable to find any derogatory statements made by coach Stotts about Sable…” Was Chris Hobbs questioned during the investigation? Mr. Hobbs clearly heard coach Stotts make “unsubstantiated” derogatory statements about Sable during the meeting in which Sable was dismissed from the team.

Trying to Control the Narrative

       One school board member told a citizen to go complete a form and get on the December 4, school board agenda regarding Sable Winfree’s dismissal from the team. The citizen completed the form as suggested, and was kept off the agenda, allegedly by the Director of Schools. 

       The funny thing is that the day after the meeting, the Director of Schools, Dr. Grant Swallows called that citizen to discuss the dismissal of Sable Winfree. That citizen was in the school board meeting, but none of the school board members, the Director or school attorney chose to discuss the dismissal of Sable Winfree during the meeting. Yet, comments have been made outside of the board meeting.

Leaks from the Administration and Central Office Staff

       Meanwhile, what keeps leaking out of the high school and central office are comments such as these, “We cannot comment on the reasons Sable Winfree was dismissed from the team. We are trying to protect her. Some parents are happy she is not on the team. If we mentioned what she has done, she would never play basketball again.” These statements are either false or half-truths to deflect from the real issue – the administration is trying to support Mendy Stotts’ strange decision to dismiss Sable from the team.

An Abundance of Disregard for Sable Winfree

       Instead of working collectively to transform Sable Winfree’s sense of self-worth, talents and value, the people entrusted with the responsibility of mentoring Sable have trashed her reputation. The assault on Sable’s character is also an attempt to diminish her achievements as a high caliber basketball player. During the past three years, Sable was “Freshman of the Year” in the district and All-District her sophomore and junior years. 

       Mendy Stotts, Chris Hobbs, Todd Willmore and Dr. Grant Swallows all knew that Sable Winfree had been offered a college scholarship to play basketball. They also knew that Sable Winfree decided to stay at Warren County High School and not move to Sparta with her mother this summer. Everyone knew that Sable’s senior year was her year to play basketball and work to expand her college offers. Because of the mindless dismissal of Sable from the team, she has no college scholarships. 

       There are so many different ways the head coach could have handled her problems with Sable. Incredibly, Stotts is a school counselor at the high school. It is beyond comprehension that the coach, athletic directors, principals and Director of Schools could not have put all their brain power together to find a better solution for Sable Winfree and the Lady Pioneer basketball team, which is now 1-8.

Lack of Courage

       Someone inside the Warren County School System should have had the courage to stand up for Sable Winfree. Principals, athletic directors, school board members, coaches and the Director of Schools may have good hearts and an authentic desire to help students. Nonetheless, when the time came to stand up for Sable Winfree, they became deaf, dumb and blind. They failed her.